The Workplace Relations Commission found that Lidl employee Jadwiga Kidon’s complaint of family-status discrimination in pay was not well founded. The decision, dated 22 November 2022, concerned her claim that her pay had lagged behind colleagues’ increases.
Kidon worked for Lidl from October 2005 until April 2022 and became a Store Anchor in 2011. She said her last pay rise before 2022 was in March 2017, while coworkers received four increases. She sought compensation based on those increases. Lidl said Store Anchors were paid the same rate and that Kidon could have moved to a Duty Manager role without increasing her hours. Kidon said family responsibilities made longer hours or travel for a higher role unsuitable.
The adjudication officer said an equal-pay claim required a comparator doing like work, and Kidon had not identified one. The officer found she had not established a prima facie case of direct discrimination on the family-status ground in relation to equal pay. The WRC therefore declared the complaint not well founded.